Kitsap County's new prosecutor is homegrown

PORT ORCHARD — Among the notable cases that Chad Enright took as a deputy prosecutor, one that left a lasting impression on Kitsap County’s new top lawyer didn’t actually go to trial and wasn’t even charged.

A 5-year-old girl had reportedly been sexually assaulted. She could tell a couple people what happened, but she couldn’t tell him. As the deputy prosecutor on the case, he couldn’t bring the person accused of assaulting her into court without hearing the story from the key witness and making sure she could re-tell it in front of a jury.

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Chad Enright in his office at the Kitsap County Courthouse in Port Orchard home on Thursday, December 20, 2018. (Photo: MEEGAN M. REID / KITSAP SUN)

Hoping that it would make her comfortable enough to tell him what happened, he spent an hour coloring with the girl, but it didn’t work.

“This was just the sweetest little girl,” said Enright, 42, who was sworn in last month as Kitsap County’s 21st prosecuting attorney and only the fifth since 1971. “She was smart and bright and I believe something terrible happened to her.”

In the end, after casting a cold eye on the case, he declined to file charges. It was one of the most difficult decisions of his career and it quickly comes to mind when asked about “big” cases he has worked on.

“Knowing our decisions are going to deny the justice people are looking for might be the hardest thing we do here,” Enright said. “And those are decisions nobody here takes lightly.”

Requirements of justice

The governor signs bills into laws, police arrest suspects based on those laws, judges hand down sentences within the limits set by the Legislature, but county prosecutors are arguably the most powerful individuals in Washington state. When it comes to mobilizing the full force of the government against someone accused of a crime, county prosecutors have wide discretion. Prosecutors also serve as the attorney for the county and county officials, giving advice and representing the county in court.

For Enright, knowing what charges to file is as important as knowing when not to file charges.

“You have to trust that justice is not necessarily the result, but justice is the process. When we have a case that we can’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt, justice requires us not to file that case,” he said.

He continued: “We have a saying in this office: If you win a case and you claim that justice was done, then you have to be prepared if you lose a case and the defendant received a fair trial, to also say justice was done.”

A reputation of respect

Enright ran unopposed after Tina Robinson decided not to run for re-election after a single term.

Enright, a Democrat, had served four years as Robinson’s chief deputy prosecutor for felony and juvenile court, a position that had been seen as the second in command for the office.

Elevating Enright to the job was an unusual choice for Robinson, and not just because she is a Republican. Enright campaigned for former Prosecutor Russ Hauge, Robinson’s opponent in the 2014 election.

Robinson, a former public defender, said she promoted Enright because she knew him as a person and as an adversary in the courtroom — they went to trial three times against each other, once on a murder case. After announcing she would not run for re-election, Robinson endorsed Enright.

Robinson said that as a trial attorney, Enright was skilled and formidable, coming to court prepared with three-ring binders full of counter-arguments to any point defense attorneys might raise.

“Whatever argument would come up, he had it in there,” Robinson said. Adding to that was his reputation for treating opposing counsel, victims, defendants and others with respect.

But it wasn’t just his deportment and skill as a courtroom attorney that made Robinson tap him to supervise the largest division in the office, even though Enright had no appreciable supervisory experience.

“What I saw with Chad was his ability to bring people together, that’s what he does,” she said.

The economy of the courthouse is tight, and what the prosecutor's office does affects not just its own employees, but judges, defense attorneys, the jail, police and the clerk’s office.

Even in tense meetings, where emotions run high, Robinson saw him as a calming and reasonable presence, listening and trying to map a way forward. She said it allowed her to focus on other matters, confident that Enright would make the right call.

“He really stepped up,” Robinson said. “There is no doubt in my mind that he is the right person for the job right now.”

Defense attorney Tom Weaver has known Enright since the prosecutor started out of law school as a defense attorney. Weaver now faces off against Enright’s deputies in court.

“Chad has the ability to see both sides of an issue and exercise independent judgment and discretion,” Weaver said.

Therapeutic courts to get more staff

One of Enright's first moves as the boss is to assign two full-time deputy prosecutors to the county’s four therapeutic courts. The courts — behavioral health court, drug court, veterans court and human-trafficking court — are meant to provide treatment in lieu of prosecution for some crimes, diverting defendants from jail or prison.

The office has, in effect, had a half-time prosecutor. Enright said the plan will decrease wait times so that approved defendants will be able to start treatment sooner. The office has also streamlined the application process — and posted the application on its website — so that there is one application process for all four courts.

“We are repeating a lot of really similar processes,” he said, adding that the plan would allow the treatment teams to find the best fit sooner.

Kitsap is where he wanted to work

Enright was born in Hood River, Oregon — the son of two teachers — and raised in Poulsbo, graduating from North Kitsap High School in 1995.

While an undergraduate at the University of Washington, he commuted by ferry every day, continuing to work at the Poulsbo Dairy Queen where he met his wife, Becky. They have a son and a daughter, Ryan and Lauren. He moved to Seattle while attending law school at Seattle University, but then moved back to Poulsbo after graduation.

Politics were openly discussed in his house growing up, and interest in the subject led him to declare a major in political science, though he didn’t necessarily know what he would do with the degree.

“Local politics was always part of the household, even as a young kid I can remember putting together yard signs,” he said.

While volunteering on former state lawmaker Phil Rockefeller’s 1998 campaign for the state House, he was impressed by how the Bainbridge Island Democrat approached problems. He realized it was a result of Rockefeller’s legal training.

“I think I realized it later on, but I knew at the time that he sounded really smart and you can learn a lot from going to law school,” Enright said.

Rockefeller recalled doorbelling in Bremerton and Silverdale during the campaign, with Enright taking one side of the street and Rockefeller taking the other.

“He’s an earnest, thoughtful guy who was always learning, listening carefully, was unfailingly courteous, polite and interacting very carefully with other people,” Rockefeller said. “I think that’s probably part of his built-in personality.”

By his own account, his first exposure to the work of a Kitsap County prosecutor did not go well. For his work as an intern in the District Court division, which handles lower-level infractions, Enright said he could claim the title of Worst Intern Ever.

“I just didn’t get it,” he said.

After graduating, he got a couple offers from firms in Port Orchard that specialized in criminal defense. He picked the offer from Melissa Hemstreet, who was tapped in 2015 by Gov. Jay Inslee to the Kitsap County Superior Court.

After four years as a public defender, Enright switched sides in 2008 and started as a deputy with the prosecutor's office, working in the civil division on mental health commitments, the Special Assault Unit on sex crimes and on general felony cases. The one part of the office he did not return to was the District Court division.

A law degree not only teaches a person to think and argue logically; it can also lead to high incomes. But Enright said big payoffs weren’t something he thought about and opted for public service. The major law firms were in Seattle and Tacoma, which would mean moving or long commutes.